Home Gaming Ebola is scaring up more Plague Inc. downloads

Ebola is scaring up more Plague Inc. downloads

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We’re all going to die. That’s the general feeling right now with the Ebola scare, a sensation that was amplified when FOX News and CNN reporters bombarded my home with reporters when they discovered that I had a suspicious case of the trots and upchucks yesterday,only to find out the culprit was Ivy Bowler brand 2 minute noodles. It’s been terrifying for the world so far. But it’s been good business for cult hit game Plague Inc., which has seen sales soar as of late.

According to developer James Vaughan over at Ndemic creations, Plague Inc. has seen its numbers fly up high on the charts, thanks to its design of using a custom-tailored virus to kill the world, with most players creating their own Ebola virus and seeing how far they can get inside that simulated world.

“This is the first time something in the real world has has an effect on the sales charts, especially since Ebola came over to America,” Vaughan said to Polygon, explaining that the game could actually be used to help fight the rather real and scary epidemic.

People are curious about it and want to know more about infectious diseases. Plague Inc. can play a role because it’s an intelligent look at how infectious diseases can spread. Plague Inc. has an audience of 35 million people who have downloaded it since the game launched. I want to help in any way I can, whether that is raising funds or raising awareness. I’m currently talking to major charities to see if Plague Inc. can be used as a tool to help in some way.

Plague Inc

Plague Inc. is also deviously difficult, as the world doesn’t sit back when you start infecting it, and depending on how visible you make your virus, there will be a resistance that usually ends in a vaccine being developed. Vaughan also added that at the moment, the game would not be updated to address the actual Ebola outbreak at this time.

“From an academic point of view the model could very easily be adapted,” Vaughan said, explaining that understanding how diseases spread could also help people understand the human side of stopping and combating the viral plague.

But at the moment it’s important to keep the focus on the outbreak and I don’t want to appear to be trivializing it by taking the outbreak and making it into a game. Plague Inc. is already able to raise awareness of the significance of the outbreak. A disease in one country affects us all. People have been talking about quarantining West Africa so we [elsewhere in the world] don’t have to be concerned about it, but that is absolutely incorrect. In out multi-connected world, a disease in one country is a threat to everybody.

This is why months ago we should have been adopting a far more coordinated approach to tackle the outbreak as a global community. Putting aside the very real humanitarian aspects of helping the people in West Africa there is the selfish aspect as well.

If you haven’t played Plague Inc., it’s a rather damn good mobile game. It’s a viral outbreak on a strategic level, and grimly satisfying when you’ve managed to create a pathogen that murders the planet. Not to mention rather educational as well.

Last Updated: October 28, 2014

32 Comments

  1. DAT GREENLAND!

    Reply

    • Hammersteyn

      October 28, 2014 at 11:36

      Also Madagascar if you don’t infect that country soon those damn humans survive

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief 0

        October 28, 2014 at 11:37

        KING JULIAN SURVIVES!

        He like to move it move it!

        Reply

    • Admiral Chief 0

      October 28, 2014 at 11:53

      If you upvote this, then I assume you know how difficult that bugger of a Greenland is to infect and destroy!

      Reply

    • SargonTheGreatPandaOfAkkad

      October 28, 2014 at 13:54

      Why not just start there? I do. Every. Single. Time. 😛

      Reply

      • Michael Matusowsky

        October 28, 2014 at 19:33

        Must take you an age to get out.

        Reply

  2. Admiral Chief 0

    October 28, 2014 at 11:35

    Also a fun game is BIO INC, where you have a single patient that you have to eliminate (but with normal health symptoms, nothing like Ebola etc)

    Reply

  3. Admiral Chief 0

    October 28, 2014 at 11:36

    Anyone have both the mobile and PC version? Any major differences?

    Reply

    • Kensei Seraph - Visiting Alpha

      October 28, 2014 at 12:10

      On the mobile version you can’t unlock the scenarios unless you purchase them.
      It really sucks since I’ve completed 99% of the rest of the game.

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief 0

        October 28, 2014 at 12:56

        Man, that sucks

        Reply

  4. Hammersteyn

    October 28, 2014 at 11:37

  5. Ryanza

    October 28, 2014 at 11:42

    http://imageslgmr.lazygamer.netdna-cdn.com/2014/10/PlagueInc.jpg

    63% of the world infected but USA, Europe, and North West Africa not infected. Oh please. get out of here. Mexico is infected but not USA. Like there is no Mexicans jumping the border. Get the fuck out of here.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief 0

      October 28, 2014 at 11:45

      Have you played the game?

      Reply

      • OVG

        October 28, 2014 at 11:49

        lol

        Reply

      • Spaffy

        October 28, 2014 at 11:53

        DRM.

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief 0

          October 28, 2014 at 11:56

          Right, indeed

          Reply

        • Ryanza

          October 28, 2014 at 12:16

          See how DRM works in the world. Segregation.

          Reply

          • Spaffy

            October 28, 2014 at 12:17

            Hahaha, you make a valid point there Ryan

    • The D

      October 28, 2014 at 11:49

      USA is notoriously hard to infect in the game. It’s suicide to start out attacking them. They have like lvl 999 white mages in the game.

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief 0

        October 28, 2014 at 11:52

        Nah, USA is easy. Canada and Greenland have the crazy mages

        Reply

        • SargonTheGreatPandaOfAkkad

          October 28, 2014 at 13:58

          Makes sense, since the game takes into account extreme environmental conditions that you need to spend a ton of DNA points on to surmount. The same goes for the USA, which has one of the highest developed nation counts.

          I have found the Ape simulation one of the most difficult so far, since I never know if I just want to make a virus or go full Ape. Always end up splitting my interests and just losing.

          Reply

      • WitWolfy

        October 28, 2014 at 11:53

        Probably not to start a panic, you know how paranoid those Americans can be.

        Reply

        • Admiral Chief 0

          October 28, 2014 at 11:56

          Indeed, just now he gets them on his case…

          Reply

      • Kensei Seraph - Visiting Alpha

        October 28, 2014 at 12:12

        If you successfully start in USA you then get access to half the world through planes and ships.

        Reply

    • Captain JJ fancy eyes

      October 28, 2014 at 12:23

      Looks like an inverted version of Apple products spreading.

      Reply

      • Admiral Chief 0

        October 28, 2014 at 12:27

        XD

        Reply

  6. WitWolfy

    October 28, 2014 at 11:52

    Might as well call the game 28 weeks later…

    Reply

  7. RinceThis

    October 28, 2014 at 12:15

    Ah humans.

    Reply

  8. Captain JJ fancy eyes

    October 28, 2014 at 12:21

    This is lying on my wishlist of games, really want to get this.

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief 0

      October 28, 2014 at 12:28

      Dude, well worth it

      Reply

  9. konfab aka derp

    October 28, 2014 at 12:53

    When Ebola first appeared in the news I immediately ran a “simulation”
    Result: we are dead 😀

    Reply

    • Admiral Chief 0

      October 28, 2014 at 13:43

      LOL, there you have it folks, the math is sound!

      Reply

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